November butac prices expected to rollover or soften

01 November 2013 17:36[Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--The European butyl acetate (butac) market is expecting November contract prices to roll over or soften following the November contract price for feedstock propylene settling at a €30/tonne ($41/tonne) decrease from October, sources said on Friday.

One producer is targeting a rollover, citing healthy demand.

“We saw excellent, healthy demand because of the warm October,” the producer said.

“Let's see how conditions are going in November. With weather conditions like this, I expect demand to better than normal.”

A second producer sees prices as stable or up to €20/tonne weaker.

Distributors also speak of butac prices slipping, due to a combination of softer feedstock costs, plentiful supplies and softer long-term demand.

“Propylene has come down, this will have an impact on butac prices,” one distributor said. “I think it [butac prices] will come down by €20/tonne on average.”

A second distributor said: “Prices went down for November by €10-20/tonne. Butac [the market] is getting smaller and smaller.

"Butac is not needed so much anymore. The automotive industry is not a big factor at the moment; Germany is not exporting that many cars anymore. There’s too much material on the market.”

According to two distributors, forthcoming maintenance at a butac plant is unlikely to impact the market.